1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to the construction of a freezer door of a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
There exist various styles of refrigerators on the market. Most common are side-by-side, top mount, and bottom mount models. In a side-by-side model, fresh food and freezer compartments are arranged laterally adjacent one another. A top mount refrigerator includes an upper freezer compartment and a lower fresh food compartment. Finally, bottom mount models have the fresh food compartment located above the freezer compartment.
In bottom mount models, it is known to employ either pivoting freezer doors and freezer doors which slide between open and closed positions. In bottom mount refrigerators employing sliding doors, it is common to mount rail assemblies to opposing side walls of the freezer compartment through the use of mechanical fasteners, and then to interconnect extensible portions of the rail assemblies to the freezer door. In this manner, the freezer door can be supported for selective sliding movement towards and away from the refrigerator cabinet, and one or more baskets can be supported upon the rails for movement in conjunction with the door.
In any case, at least the supports for the basket(s) are connected to the door such that, as the door is slid relative to a cabinet of the refrigerator, the basket shifts into and out of the freezer compartment. Since the freezer door is typically made of sheet metal or other thin materials, the door must be structurally reinforced in order to enable the secure attachment of the supports. Although an entire, dedicated door construction could be provided for this purpose, it is considered advantageous, at least from an economic standpoint, to provide a freezer door assembly which will enable freezer door components, as well as core manufacturing techniques and machinery, intended for use in constructing a pivoting freezer door to only be modified or supplemented so as to be usable in forming a sliding refrigerator freezer door. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a cost effective and efficient manner in which to form a structurally reinforced, slidably mounted refrigerator freezer door.